


Earth

by california_112



Category: Lester - All Media Types
Genre: Canon Era, FPC: 11 | Earth, Fifty Prompt Challenge, Friendship, Gen, Plants
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-04
Updated: 2020-07-04
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:20:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 788
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25066795
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/california_112/pseuds/california_112
Summary: It was cruel really- the house immediately next to us had a back garden, and McGilligan could see into it clearly from his bedroom window, with its beds of brightly coloured blooms. I had decided to try and give him at least a little bit of space to call his own, even if it wasn't really a 'garden'.-or-The narrator has a surprise for his protégé.ABSOLUTELY 0% SPOILERS FOR ANYTHINGThis is part of the Fifty Prompt Challenge, 11 - Earth.





	Earth

"What the hell…?"

The comment was aimed at me, and fired by my protégé. He stood at the top of the steps up to the door, uniformed and ready for his shift, watching me haul a large, heavy bag along the pavement.

"Nothing to worry about!" I replied cheerfully, "Definitely not a body."

"What do you mean-"

"It's not a body." I clarified. "It's a…surprise."

McGilligan eyed me suspiciously, and I tried to look as innocent as possible. As innocent as a man can look, wearing a trench coat, fedora, and some questionably stained shoes, whilst dragging a large black plastic bag along a street. My protégé rolled his eyes.

"Let me help you get it up the stairs."

"Really, I'm fine." I said, hoisting the bag onto one shoulder and staggering up the stairs, into the hallway, and straight into the dining room at the back.

After putting it in an unobtrusive corner of the rarely-used room, I returned to the hallway. McGilligan had been watching me the whole time, and leaning in the doorway had allowed the neighbours to join him in his viewing. Scowling slightly, I stepped back outside, and was followed.

"Aren't you staying in?" McGilligan asked, looking down at me as I tried to do something about my stubbornly untidy hair.

"No, I've got something else to pick up."

"Give you a lift?"

"Thanks."

We both climbed into McGilligan's borrowed police car, and headed across the town. Seeing as my destination was fairly close to the station, he dropped me off just outside, agreeing to meet later for dinner as usual.

Alone now, I headed off to pick up the last of the ingredients for my surprise. On my way home, I discovered that walking around with a long, bulky package under your arm is one of the best ways to attract unwanted attention, and was glad to finally get home; closing myself in the dining room, I started on my task.

The idea for the surprise had come from the week before, when McGilligan and I had been on an evening walk around Lester. Looking at the public gardens that spanned part of the seafront, my protégé had said with some longing that he had always wished to have a garden of his own, but had had the misfortune to always live in a flat- until he moved into the house we were currently in, which also didn't have any open space of its own, although that made it cheaper to rent. It was cruel really- the house immediately next to us had a back garden, and McGilligan could see into it clearly from his bedroom window, with its beds of brightly coloured blooms. I had decided to try and give him at least a little bit of space to call his own, even if it wasn't really a 'garden'.

At the end of three hours, I was ready to install my solution. The dining table was laid out with ten different variations of it, and it took me half an hour of scurrying up and down the house to place them all. My work done, I finished tidying the dining room before sitting in my chair, oddly exhausted.

I really must have been tired, because the next thing I knew McGilligan was shaking my shoulder, waking me up.

"Hm?" I said, blinking, "Oh, it's you."

"Why is there a sack of earth in the dining room?" he opened.

"You didn't see the front of the house?" I replied, standing up. "That should explain everything."

I followed him into the hallway, out the front door, and down into the street. Following his gaze up the front of the house, I was quite satisfied with my afternoons toils.

Each of the eight windows, previously plain and dull, now sported a brightly-planted window box, pansy petals fluttering in the light breeze. McGilligan's mouth was wide open.

"Where did you buy them from?" he asked, in awe, "They must have cost a fortune!"

"I, um, made them, actually," I confessed awkwardly, "it's cheaper to buy the parts separately. I saw the boxes up for sale, and I knew that you wanted a flower garden, so-"

I was cut off short by something grabbing me, almost lifting me off my feet, then letting go again. Despite his silence, it was the rare display of affection that told me that McGilligan liked his surprise.

"There are two more outside your bedroom windows," I added, "but I thought you could plant those up yourself."

My protégé's smile was so bright that he could have replaced the lighthouse at Beachy Head. Quickly retrieving our coats from the hallway, he tossed me mine with happy abandon.

"Dinner's on me!"

**Author's Note:**

> they deserved some pure friendship imo
> 
> This one goes out to V, who asks that the Lester lads get less pain and more happiness. Don't expect it to last long though... ;3


End file.
